The sundaes at whimsical Fluffy McCloud’s in Echo Park come topped with pretzel sticks, pecans, whipped cream, hot fudge and cherries
(Rebecca Peloquin / For The Times)
20 of our favorite sundaes and banana splits in L.A.
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What is a sundae? Ice cream, of course, but what else? As the Food team compiled our favorite decked-out frozen desserts around the city, we couldn’t seem to reach a consensus.
It should have syrup or sauce, fruit and some sort of crunchy topping, I declared with unearned authority. Deputy Food editor Betty Hallock pointed out the iconic McDonald’s sundae with just vanilla soft serve and rich chocolate fudge. Another colleague mentioned layered parfaits while others hailed the banana split as a worthwhile variant that includes all the named elements.
We decided to take a broad definition to the dessert that was first created at a soda fountain in Two Rivers, Wis., in the late 19th century. (Hot fudge was invented in 1906 by L.A. candymaker Clarence Clifton Brown, whose son opened legendary ice cream parlor C.C. Brown’s in Hollywood.)
You can opt for classic or over-the-top versions at a carhop diner in Burbank or a Route 66 soda fountain, or build the sundae of your dreams at a French-Californian bistro or an open-air Italian restaurant with a roving gelato cart. There are plenty of creative takes that pull inspiration from many cuisines, like a Thai gelato maker in Torrance and an Ethiopian restaurant in Eagle Rock serving a brûléed banana split with Ethiopian coffee-infused chocolate sauce.
Here are 20 of our favorite sundaes and banana splits around Los Angeles. — Danielle Dorsey
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Alta Adams
West Adams Ice cream $$$
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
After reopening in May following a three-month break and a complete reworking of the menu, chef Keith Corbin’s West Adams restaurant now offers a $26 banana split that can serve as a satisfyingly sweet ending to your meal. Restaurant critic Jenn Harris praised the dessert in her recent review of Alta Adams, which includes brûléed bananas, pecan brittle and bourbon miso caramel, all of which surround the banana- and chocolate-flavored ice cream at the base of the dish. Corbin makes his own ice cream, and his version of the banana split takes inspiration from the ice cream trucks he visited as a kid.
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Aunt Yvette’s Kitchen
Eagle Rock Ethiopian $$
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Yvette and Russell Platoff have made dozens of ice cream flavors at their cozy Ethiopian restaurant since its 2023 debut. Some are plant-based and others involve spice such as berbere, but no dessert has been as popular as their banana split. At the base and drizzled atop is a rich house-made chocolate sauce infused with Ethiopian coffee for a complex bitter note. It’s topped with creamy house-spun banana ice cream, a light black-cardamom Chantilly cream, two brûléed halves of a banana, and a cluster of salty and earthy toasted hazelnuts, sunflower seeds and pistachios. This signature dessert is a whirlwind of texture and balance, each bite deftly walking the line of sweet and savory.
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Ballast Point Brewing Co.
Long Beach Brewery $$
(Ballast Point Brewing Co.)
In between rounds of beer and gastropub favorites at Ballast Point Brewing Co., don’t forget to satisfy your inner child by ordering a classic ice cream sundae. The San Diego-founded brewery has outposts in Long Beach and Anaheim’s Downtown Disney, where sundaes are the cherry on top of head chef Juan Salmeron’s menu. Maybe you’ll opt for the butter cake sundae, featuring a warm butter cake and topped with whipped cream, vanilla bean gelato, honeycomb crumbs and strawberries. Or the brownie sundae, which is based around a rockslide brownie and topped with cherry gelato, whipped cream, caramel sauce and a maraschino cherry.
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Bob's Big Boy
Burbank American $
(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
I’m here for the fudge cake “sundae.” A 7-foot-tall statue of the cherubic mascot of Burbank, swoop-haired Bob, stands guard at this classic Googie diner, holding aloft a double-deck cheeseburger. But for me it might as well be the ice cream-laden fudge cake. Slide into one of the booths at the oldest remaining Bob’s Big Boy in America, designed by Wayne McAllister and built 75 years ago. Sure, order your burger or tuna melt or onion rings, definitely a chocolate malt. But I actually dream about the fudge cake; it is a cafeteria confection that has chocolaty layers sandwiching a scoop of vanilla ice cream, all of it covered in gloopy dark-cocoa syrup with whipped cream and a cherry on top.
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Coucou
Manhattan Beach French $$
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
There’s decadent chocolate mousse and dessert wine, but the sweetest way to finish a meal since Day 1 of Coucou’s debut remains the soft-serve sundae. The French-Californian bistro builds its light, creamy base with milk from California’s own Straus Family Creamery, swirls it up a frosted glass, then offers a selection of toppings: Luxardo cherries, toasted almonds and a chocolate sauce that hardens atop the small frozen mountain. Find it across all three Coucou locations: Venice, West Hollywood and the newest outpost, Manhattan Beach.
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Damian
Downtown L.A. Mexican $$$
(Danielle Dorsey / Los Angeles Times)
The modern Mexican restaurant from Mexico City chef Enrique Olvera might be better known for its airy hibiscus meringue that’s a standby on the seasonally shifting menu, but don’t skip the current soft-serve sundae that’s perfect for fall. Inspired by a peach cobbler, apricot and yogurt are swirled together and topped with peach compote, canela, Mexican spices and cornmeal almond crumble. It’s comforting and savory, perfect for those who prefer a dessert that’s not too sweet.
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Fair Oaks Pharmacy
South Pasadena American Ice cream $
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Founded in 1915, Fair Oaks Pharmacy began as a popular pharmacy and soda fountain, offering a diner menu, ice cream and milkshakes to road-trippers on the original Route 66. Now owned and operated by pharmacist Zahra Shahniani and her sons Ash and Brandon, you can still fill a prescription here, or browse the gift shop that’s stocked with everything from retro memorabilia to souvenirs, puzzles and games. There’s even a section devoted to nostalgic candy brands like Pop Rocks and Necco Wafers. But step up to the counter that’s backed by a neon “Soda Fountain” sign to order up-to-12-pound ice cream sundaes, floats and thick milkshakes composed of Thrifty Ice Cream, plus freshly carbonated sodas. Dig into your selections on one of the spinning barstools and watch the soda jerks at work. Note that the pharmacy is only open during the week and that workers sometimes close early on slow days, it’s best to show up at least an hour before closing to guarantee your sundae or banana split order.
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Fluffy McCloud’s
Echo Park Ice cream $
(Rebecca Peloquin / For The Times)
Some of L.A.’s most creative ice cream flavors can also be found in some of the city’s most whimsical sundaes and banana splits. At Fluffy McCloud’s, founder Nick Fisher and his team blowtorch powdered milk, macerate kumquats, pulverize farmers market melons and more to create an ever-rotating roster of seasonal flavors, all made with organic ingredients. Fluffy’s ice cream can be ordered in cups or cones, affogato, milkshakes and floats, but its most extravagant forms are the sundae topped with pretzel sticks, pecans, whipped cream, hot fudge and cherries, and the popular banana split, which swaps the pretzels and pecans for sprinkles and coconut and nestles it all between brûléed bananas. Vibe to the jukebox, grab a stool at the long counter and dig in beneath the large, glowing art installation of the planet Saturn.
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Fosselman’s Ice Cream
Alhambra Ice cream $
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
This family-owned ice cream parlor knows a thing about sundaes and banana splits — and it should. Fosselman’s has been in the business since 1919. Visiting the Alhambra scoop shop, an L.A. mainstay since 1941, feels almost like time travel: Glass jars of old-timey taffy, rock candy and lollipops sit on the shelves, the operation is still cash-only, and the walls sport black-and-white photos, vintage menus and branded bottles from bygone decades. But the Fosselman family also modernized through the century, supplementing their dozens of classic, creamy flavors with new options that represent L.A.: black sesame, horchata, taro and red bean. You can pile any into classic sundaes, banana splits or brownie sundaes (with choice of a rocky road brownie or a cheesecake brownie), then pick two sauces such as marshmallow cream, hot fudge, strawberry sauce, hot apples or hot caramel. It’s all topped with nuts, whipped cream and a cherry for that quintessential sundae blend of sweet-crunchy-creamy-saucy that could come from any era.
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Fosters Freeze
Inglewood Ice cream $
(Nava Rawls / Los Angeles Times)
Fosters Freeze first opened in 1946 as a small over-the-counter creamery in Inglewood. Over 80 years later, it has expanded throughout California and into Georgia, serving up a full food menu in addition to its classic soft-serve ice cream and milkshakes. The ice cream sundae, a $7 concoction of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and peanuts with a cherry on top, is also served with the syrup of your choice. The most popular syrup choice is hot fudge, but other options include caramel, peach and triple berry.
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Lynx
Downtown L.A. Pizza
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The extraordinary pizzas and cocktails are the talk of Lynx, chef Josh Skenes’ Arts District restaurant and bar, but the soft serve is an after-dinner must-order. Milky-creamy, airy, smooth and not too sweet, it’s a dreamy, dip-your-spoon-all-the-way-to-the-bottom-of-the-glass kind of canvas for any of the sauces and toppings Skenes might add to it on any given week. Earlier this year it was chocolate and nutty feuilletine. In the summer, a preserve made of peak-season apricots. It’s always changing, and always delicious.
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Meadow
Venice Frozen yogurt $
(Melody Xu / Los Angeles Times)
Thanks to this walk-up window that debuted in July, beachgoers can now personalize their own frozen yogurt sundaes right off the Venice boardwalk. Here, the yogurt base comes in two gluten-free flavors, plain tart and chocolate. A majority of Meadow’s eclectic topping options are also gluten free. For $1 to $3, add treats like pistachio crunch, cookie dough bites, crushed Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, mango puree, chocolate-covered pretzels and raw honey.
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Moom Maam
Torrance Thai Desserts $$
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
In May 2021, software engineer Darwin Wai ordered a $30 ice cream machine from Amazon and started making gelato between engineering jobs. His core flavors involved Thai tea, riceberry horchata, espresso and mango. He first had a Thai gelato stall at the Wat Thai weekend market in Sun Valley before popping up at Smorgasburg and eventually opening his first bricks-and-mortar shop at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance. Wai’s version of a sundae is called “the special.” It starts with a fresh, gluten-free waffle bowl with crisp, wavy edges. Then he adds sweet coconut sticky rice and two scoops of gelato. It’s fun to mix and match the flavors, but the fior di cocco and mango create a sort of semi-frozen version of mango sticky rice. It’s finished with a sprinkle of toasted grated coconut and caramelized palm sugar.
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Pizzeria Mozza
Hancock Park Italian $$
(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)
This is a grown-up sundae that hits all the right childhood cravings. In fact, it was Nancy Silverton’s own childhood trips to the classic L.A. ice cream parlors Wil Wright’s and C.C. Brown’s that inspired her to start making sundaes, which have evolved over the years at her different restaurants. The Tin Roof Sundae, named in homage to the salted peanut-topped, hot fudge sundae at the old Hamburger Hamlet, appeared on Pizzeria Mozza’s first menu when it opened in 2006. It has no hot fudge, but instead builds on a sundae Silverton used to serve at her first L.A. restaurant, Campanile. That one had salty caramel peanut sauce over caramel ice cream with whipped cream and almonds. But at Mozza, the salted peanuts go on top of the caramel ice cream, which sits on a pizzelle or Italian waffle cookie, giving the sundae crunch from top to bottom. Two sauces come with the sundae. There is a peanut-less version of the salty caramel sauce she served at Campanile, which is based on a traditional French caramel that she doesn’t let get too dark. And in place of the whipped cream, an Italian meringue-based marshmallow sauce, which has a lovely sheen, isn’t too sweet and gives the whole dessert a lusciousness that is hard to resist.
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Pizzeria Sei
Pizza
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(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
One of the mainstay desserts at the new Pizzeria Sei in Palms might be called a parfait and channels the flavors of a traditional Sicilian cake, but it is pure sundae. Served in a metal coupe, the ice cream that chef William Joo makes is milky and just sweet enough, tinged with a little sea salt “for a little punchy taste.” Candied citrus is a key part of cassata, and Joo mixes candied yuzu peel — made by a small family-owned business in Kyoto, Japan — into the milk ice cream (which the chef describes as “pure milky milk”). It’s topped with soft, soft whipped cream mixed with vanilla bean so that it just drapes over the ice cream. Sprinkled on top are crushed amaretti cookies to mimic the marzipan flavor of cassata.
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Queen’s Raw Bar & Grill
Eagle Rock Southern $$
(Bill Addison / Los Angeles Times)
It’s easy to name reasons why the Last World Hospitality group’s Southern-accented seafood haven in Eagle Rock is one of the most underrated restaurants in Los Angeles. The soothing room, anchored by its horseshoe-shaped bar and the day’s fading light filtered through stained-glass windows. The platters of small, saline oysters, followed by properly delicate she-crab soup drizzled with sherry, hot-from-the-fryer hushpuppies and fennel-scented fish served with a side of fragrant Carolina Gold rice. And for dessert? Here is where I mention that I am a sundae heretic who doesn’t particularly enjoy hot fudge. Queen’s Bar & Grill has the creation for me: good vanilla ice cream crowned with a generous amount of saucy, intense strawberry jam and crumbles of meringue. Smart, simple, and the right, lighter ending for a meal here.
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Tam O’Shanter
Atwater Village Bar
(Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)
Legendary L.A. ice cream parlor C.C. Brown’s, which operated on Hollywood Boulevard from 1929 to 1996, claimed to be the inventor of the hot fudge sundae. The shop was named for Charles Clifton (C.C.) Brown, a downtown L.A. candymaker, and it was operated by his son, Clifton Hibbard Brown. The first sundae with hot fudge sauce, made in C.C.’s copper kettles, was served in 1938. The parlor was sold to the Schumacher family in the 1960s, and after they closed it down in 1996, they sold the trademark rights and the exclusive recipe to Lawry’s Restaurants Inc. Its restaurants Tam O’Shanter in Atwater Village and Lawry’s the Prime Rib now serve the same sundae: vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and toasted almonds, along with a miniature pitcher of the original hot fudge sauce. Pour it all in and it pools at the bottom of the coupe the ice cream is served in, coming about halfway up the glass. It’s pretty glorious.
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Terra
Century City Italian $$
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
For dessert and a show, head to Eataly’s rooftop restaurant. Terra is primarily known for its flame-kissed meats and panoramic views, but those with a sweet tooth can’t forget its roving gelato cart trotted out for tableside sundaes. The organic-milk gelato is made fresh daily on Eataly’s ground floor and gets wheeled around in an enormous bowl at Terra, where a bevy of toppings can be added with dramatic pours and sprinkles. Mix and match Italian cherries, house-made chocolate sauce, cannoli crumble, olive oil drizzles, candied almonds and fresh whipped cream, or for $4 more, boozy shots of limoncello, whiskey and coffee liqueur.
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Twohey’s
South Pasadena American Ice cream $$
(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)
You’ve got to go bittersweet at Twohey’s. Yes, you can order milk, chocolate or caramel on a Twohey’s cream sundae, but it’s the rich, dark, bitter mixed with the sweet that puts this classic American restaurant with a diner soul into Southern California’s sundae elite. This is also an expertly constructed sundae, layered so that the contrast between the warm chocolate and cool ice cream appears in every bite. Just look at the goblet with a solid chocolate layer surrounding the sundae, and more gooey chocolate sauce pockets revealed once you dig your spoon through the roasted almonds and cherry-topped whipped cream. That solid layer may have been the move of an especially dedicated sundae maker on the day I visited, or a more recent innovation at the restaurant, which has seen many lives since it opened in 1943. But the important thing for those of us who came to love Twohey’s burgers, buttermilk-battered onion rings and frosted limes at its old Alhambra location is that in its latest South Pasadena incarnation, the bittersweet chocolate sundae is as good, and maybe even better than ever.
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626 Hospitality
Arcadia Soft serve $
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
For soft-serve sundaes that riff on familiar Asian flavors in a festive setting, head to Arcadia. This nighttime-only, build-your-own soft-serve shop offers flavor bases such as black sugar Tahitian vanilla; lychee and strawberry; Yakult; Vietnamese coffee; ube vanilla; hojicha; and mango calamansi, with toppings like mochi, Haw flakes, tea jelly, chamoy gummies and drizzles of strawberry reduction and house-made Vietnamese coffee syrup. Meant to evoke and pay homage to its founders’ upbringing in the San Gabriel Valley, 626 Hospitality’s flavors are a true taste of L.A., while its late-night hours often turn its corner of a strip mall into what can feel like a block party.
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